Page 33 - IB FEB 2017

We Say
Strengthen the borders

IT has taken an Iranian asylum seeker to countries and evade border officials? and exited the country with ease.
show just how porous the region’s inter- There can be but two troubling answers. This is outrageous but perhaps to be
national borders are. The first is that he received help and was expected.
Loghman Sawari broke out of Papua able to purchase an illegal, forged passport. Maritime patrol units throughout the
New Guinea and into Fiji, crossing at least That points to help and international Pacific have little or no fuel to conduct re-
five border checks in the process. crime. The second is that border officials alistic preventive patrols and no system of
In PNG he would have had to get past an were complicit in moving a refugee across coast watching exists to protect the islands.
airline clerk, a security office, an Immigra- borders, most likely with the help of well- Foreign vessels come and go with ease.
tion official and a final pre-boarding check. placed currency. In Tonga last year an American national
Once in Fiji Sawari would have been Whatever the case, a single asylum accused of murdering his wife was able to
screened by Immigration and quarantine seeker has blown a huge hole in the first leave and would have been out of reach of
officials. line of defence of two sovereign nations the justice system but for a quirk of fate
At no stage in this short-lived bid to whose security forces are known for their which saw him apprehended in Samoa.
escape Manus did alarm bells start ringing brutality. As enforcement officials crack down
nor did any one of those officials think that And he has shown that Pacific borders on cross border movement, necessity will
this person was a threat. are open to abuse by those who see fit. gradually force criminal organisations to
It is safe to assume that controls at the Given the large number of people mov- look for weak links to move people and
border of two of the region’s largest and ing from the west towards the Pacific product.
most advanced nations cannot prevent the through Asia, it is time for nations to put The Pacific is – at this time – a weak link.
flow of illegal migrants. in place stringent controls to prevent We must be thankful to this lone Iranian
Even when Fiji’s administration placed people smuggling and the movement of immigrant who has exposed systemic
travel bans on individuals after the illegal contraband. weakness. And we call on Pacific govern-
overthrow of the country’s government The recent murder in Fiji of two Russian ments, starting with PNG and Fiji, to take
in 2006, people were able to escape the citizens has been linked to organised crime immediate remedial action.
clutches of the regime. with suggestions that their killers entered
Lieutenant-Colonel Roko Tevita Ului- l We Say is compiled with the oversight of the editor.
lakeba Mara has a high-profile post in
Tonga, lifted to asylum courtesy of a Royal ‘
Tongan Navy patrol boat just off Fiji’s Whatever TRADE MARK CAUTIONARY NOTICE IN THE
maritime border. The one thing Fijian im- the cause, FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA, EAST TIMOR,
migration officials do well is to round up MALDIVES & PALAU
people when the need arises. a single
Their swift action saw Sawari ambushed Notice is hereby given that Vinda Paper (China) Co., Ltd. of
on the Queen’s Highway as he travelled asylum Sibeiyangsha, Xinjiangcun, Sanjiang Town, Xinhui District, Jiangmen
with his lawyer to meet Immigration Di- seeker has City, Guangdong Province 529142, China, is the sole owner and
rector, Major Nemani Vuniwaqa in Suva. proprietor in The Federated States of Micronesia, East Timor, Maldives
Bundled kicking and screaming through blown a and Palau and elsewhere of the trade mark below:
Nadi International Airport, he witnessed
first-hand the efficiency of deportation at huge hole in Vinda
the hands of Immigration officers sup- the first line
ported by police. which is used in International classes upon or in connection with the
Three newspaper publishers – Russell of defence following goods:
Hunter of the Fiji Sun, Evan Hannah and
Rex Gardner of The Fiji Times – and, more of two Class 16: Tissues of paper; Toilet papers; tissue made of paper and for
recently, property developer Karen Seaton, sovereign disposal after use; all included in class 16
know how efficient officials can be.
But we do not wish to dwell at this stage nations Vinda Paper (China) Co., Ltd. claims all rights in respect to the above
on whether the asylum seeker should have trademark and will take all necessary legal steps against any person,
been deported. whose firm or corporation counterfeiting, imitating, violating or otherwise
The fact is that he should never have security infringing its rights in The Federated States of Micronesia, East Timor,
been able to make it across the two borders Maldives and Palau.
in the first place. forces are
Fiji and Papua New Guinea must take a
long, hard look at the controls which are in known MUNRO LEYS
Lawyers & Notaries Public
place to monitor people at its ports of entry. for their Pacific House, Butt Street, PO Box 149, Suva, Fiji
How is it possible that a refugee – pre- Email: trademarks@munroleyslaw.com.fj
sumably with no travel documents – was brutality ‘ www.munroleyslaw.com
able to enter an international airport,
secure tickets for a flight between two MUNRO LEYS

Islands Business, February 2017 33